Bellegarde-sur-Valserine

Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
Part of Valserhône
Coat of arms
Location of Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
Bellegarde-sur-Valserine Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
Coordinates: 46°06′30″N 5°49′36″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Ain
Arrondissement	Nantua
Canton	Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
Commune	Valserhône
Area 1	15 km2 (6 sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal code	01200
Elevation	330–1,542 m (1,083–5,059 ft) (avg. 485 m or 1,591 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Bellegarde-sur-Valserine is a former commune in the Ain department in eastern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune of Valserhône.

Geography

The Valserine in winter

Bellegarde is located at the confluence of the Valserine and the Rhone.

At this spot, the water of the two rivers runs underground, and it was possible to cross both of them easily. Since the building of the Génissiat dam at Injoux-Génissiat, the level of the Rhône was raised several meters but the pertes de la Valserine are still visible.

Bellegarde lies in a valley dominated by the plateau of Retord on the west and the massif of the Grand Crêt d'Eau and the Vuache on the east. The passage created by the Rhône is the principal access to the area around Gex and the north of Lake Geneva. Since 1st January 2019, Bellegarde belongs to a new commune, with Lancrans and Chatillon-en-Michaille, named Valserhône.

Traffic

Bellegarde is the transfer station to the Swiss Jura Foot Railway.

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
2006	11,497	—
2007	11,367	−1.1%
2008	11,404	+0.3%
2009	11,679	+2.4%
2010	11,790	+1.0%
2011	11,630	−1.4%
2012	11,590	−0.3%
2013	11,644	+0.5%
2014	11,745	+0.9%
2015	11,809	+0.5%
2016	11,666	−1.2%

Twin towns — sister cities

Bellegarde-sur-Valserine is twinned with:

• Saint-Christophe, Aosta Valley, Italy (2000)
• Bretten, Germany (2001)